George R.R. Martin’s superb and highly acclaimed epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire continues with the third in the series A Storm of Swords. There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage. Unabridged and split into two parts. The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs.

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Publisher's Summary

George R.R. Martin’s superb and highly acclaimed epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire continues with the third in the series A Storm of Swords. There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage. Unabridged and split into two parts. The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs. From there, the renegade Brother Mance Rayder will lead them South towards the Wall.

The men of the Night’s Watch are ready for the coming of a great cold and the walking corpses that travel with it. But now they face a horde of wildlings twenty-thousand strong – hungry savage people steeped in the dark magic of the haunted wilderness – poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. But Robb’s defences are ranged against attack from the South, the land of House Stark’s enemies the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there, dead or likely yet to die, at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey or his depraved mother Cersei, regent of the Iron Throne. Cersei’s ambition is unfettered while the dwarf Tyrion Lannister fights for his life, a victim of treachery. And on the other side of the ocean, the last of the Targaryens rears the dragons she hatched from her husband’s funeral pyre. Daenerys Stormborn will return to the land of her birth to avenge the murder of her father, the last Dragon King on the Iron Throne.

What the Critics Say

"Colossal, staggering… Martin captures all the intoxicating complexity of the Wars of the Roses or Imperial Rome in his imaginary world… one of the greats of fantasy literature." (SFX)

"Fantasy literature has never shied away from grandeur, but the sheer-mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasy writers away shaking their heads… Its ambition: to construct the Twelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias." (The Guardian)

I'm losing interest in the storyline because it's difficult to tell what order the parts of the books (let alone the books in the series) are. A whole section of the second book didn't download properly and I skipped it and now I'm lost and kind of drifting away...

I'm a horticulturist so I am mainlined to audible constantly while doing a spot of gardening.
I prefer non-fiction as I like walking away from work with a bit of extra knowledge, but have recently found a beautiful escape in fiction titles which bring their own knowledge with them, I guess...

I had to stop what I was doing to pick up my jaw, lest I stepped on it.I think I have learned how this man writes and so brace myself for an unexpected turn, trying to predict where the book will go but for the life of me, I can not pick most of the plot line twists.You can imagine how stoked I am when I come close to guessing it but on the whole, this series is highly recommended for those who wish to be taken on a roller coaster for over 200 hours.

What did you love best about A Storm of Swords (Part Two) - Blood and Gold?

Good story. Unpredictable.

Have you listened to any of Roy Dotrice’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Same. I'm ambivalent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Lots of people are complaining about Roy's narration. I think he does a good job, given the overwhelming number of characters and contexts. HOWEVER...the inconsistent narration has been happening since book 1. it would be nice if he consistently read the major characters. For a significant example: from book 1 to book 3 Jamie Lannister changes from aristocratic English ponce to Welsh. Tywin changes from gruff English aristocratic ponce to Winston Churchill! As an aside - what is it about the English that assumes all dwarves are Welsh, all uncultured yokels are from Yorkshire, and all cut-throat ne'er-do-wells are Scots or Irish? As for names. Brienne is Bree-enn, not Bry-een. Apparently this changes again in later books. Finally, while I am rapt by this series, it's clear that G.R.R. Martin used to write tv screenplays. There's definitely the taste of soap-drama behind it. How many times is Tyrion close to execution? How many major characters have to die, or disappear? I know it harkens at a more brutal era of humanity, but jeez! Is it just me, or does the story seem to leap over significant events, only to mention them almost in passing?

Would you consider the audio edition of A Storm of Swords (Part Two) - Blood and Gold to be better than the print version?

Some things about the audio are annoying like you when you want to go back and listen again, you can only go back a sentence or a whole chapter or couple of chapters. If you lose your spot you can never find it again. The narrator took a bit of getting used to and some of the voices he uses are really annoying, but over all he does a fantastic job, and I really like listening to him now.

If you've listened to the previous two books then you'll enjoy this one just as much once you get used to Roy Dotrice's narration. But now I've finished it and want to go on to A Feast for Crows but there's still no sign of it in audible, so I can either read the book (I have little time to spare, which is why I listen to audio books while I'm doing other things) or hope audible gets its act together. Why have they put out book 5 and not book 4? Come on Audible at least give us an explanation or a time scale. Good communication with your customers is half the battle. Try adding a customer questions section to your website (one that you answer questions like this!).

18 of 19 people found this review helpful

Marcus

London, United Kingdom

1/1/12

Overall

"Best book so far"

It does take time to get into the stories as there are so many characters, plot lines and background history. What really helped me to follow what is happening was a website called Tower of the Hand, which has summaries of each chapter and links to biographies of all the characters.

This is my favourite book of the series so far with great battles in the north and many betrayals . Great story telling with cliffhangers in most chapters. Expect to be gripped and shocked.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Marie

Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom

12/9/11

Overall

"Where is book 4?"

I have loved the first 3 volumes of this audio book series but like other reviewers am wondering where is book 4? I only discovered this book series on audible and so have not 'read' this series. It now looks as if I will have to get the 'paper' copy. Why produce book 5 before book 4?

I love Roy Dotrice's narration. He has a wonderful voice.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

J

Romford, United Kingdom

12/3/11

Overall

"Still gripping!"

Still gripping and I can't wait for the next part but unfortunately you can't downlad it from audible and its not read by Roy Dotrice if you find it anywhere else. what a let down!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Lorraine

St Helens, United Kingdom

11/12/11

Overall

"No feast of crows"

I have found a feast of crows on the US site by a different narrator (Roy Dotrice was busy apparently) but don't understand why we can't get it in the uk!?!?

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

MR

London, United Kingdom

10/15/11

Overall

"where is the 4th book?"

like the poster above me, i am annoyed that audible have missed the 4th book and jumped straight to the 5th.

I have started the 5th book without releasing there was a 4th book, simply because it is missing from this site....

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Jean

Xagħra Gozo Malta

1/31/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Excellent listening"

What did you like most about A Storm of Swords (Part Two) - Blood and Gold?

All of it. I have reviewed most of the series now all I can say is I want to complete the whole series.

What did you like best about this story?

Again I enjoy the pleasure of listening.

Have you listened to any of Roy Dotrice’s other performances? How does this one compare?

All first class

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mrs

Stockport, United Kingdom

12/13/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Well worth a listen."

What made the experience of listening to A Storm of Swords (Part Two) - Blood and Gold the most enjoyable?

It's well written and goes from character to character leaving you wanting all the time. You have to keep listening to find out what happens next to your favourite characters - but don't get too close to them as no one is safe.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Storm of Swords (Part Two) - Blood and Gold?

The death scene. Couldn't wish for a better ending to such a horrible character. I was almost looking forward to it.

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

Whilst initially I was hesitant with the narrator due to him being obviously a lot older and the characters being mostly teenagers and/or 20-30 age group I thought Roy did an amazing job. How he remembers all the voices for each different character is a pretty impressive task- well done.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Winter is coming... No one is safe

Any additional comments?

Brilliant series full stop, I am halfway through the series and love them.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

L. J. Fielding

UK

2/18/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Story is fantastic, narrator... Meh"

A storm of swords is perhaps my favorite book of all time but this narrator tells the tale in a monotonous drone; insipid emotion, strange chuckles within in dialogue and random accents that irritate. The female characters all sounds the same, even the young ones sounds like crones. I recommend Roy Avers version even if that's comes at the expense of audio quality.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Niamh B. Patterson

Dublin,Ireland

2/15/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"20 hours of reading ten minutes of story line :)"

Love the books in general but this was a bit long winded... 20 hours of reading ten minutes of story line :)

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